


Not A Straight Line

by master sassassin (thesassassin)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Everyone Needs A Hug, M/M, Odin's A+ Parenting, PTSD, Tony Needs a Hug, non-canon after avengers assemble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-04-17 11:06:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4664262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesassassin/pseuds/master%20sassassin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avengers are benched and living together after battle of New York, which works about as well as anyone expected. Slowly they start to recover and learn to get along, but it seems like things keep getting in the way. Like the discovery that reports of a certain agent's death were greatly exaggerated, or whispers that the Chitauri are back on earth - with a prisoner in tow...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Tony doesn't really know what made him decide to move them all into his tower after the battle. It started with Bruce. Somehow SHIELD had convinced Bruce to stay at their headquarters for monitoring, and Tony convinced him to come hang at Stark Tower, play in the labs, maybe work for SI if he wanted to. That was what he said, at least, but he had seen how haunted Bruce seemed, surrounded by so many people, in a building like a rabbit warren, all long hallways with nowhere to hide if there was a big green incident. And so when repairs started to the living areas of the tower -which he was overseeing personally, of course - Tony made sure that the walls were reinforced, and that Bruce's room and the common areas had extra high ceilings.

        Thor moved in because he needed a place to crash - apparently things were still tense between him and his father, and Thor was pissed about how Odin had chosen to punish Loki or something. Tony hadn't asked questions. He did wonder why Thor hadn't shacked up with Jane, but she came to spend the odd weekend, so he figured things must be okay between them. He drew up plans for a gym, with reinforced equipment for godlike strength.

        He never really _invited_ Clint to live with him; it was more that the archer came over for a weekend and never left, and eventually Tony stopped questioning it. He'd seen how shitty SHIELD quarters were, when he'd visited Bruce and Steve. And then about a fortnight after Clint, Natasha showed up with both of their luggage, and Tony didn't have the heart - or the balls - to turn her away. Tony set up an entertainment room adjacent to the living room, with a video game station set up for Clint and Thor, and grumbled that the place was turning into a frat house.

        He invited Steve because everyone else was living there and it seemed a shame to exclude him. Those were Pepper's words, anyway - they stayed in contact even after the breakup, which hadn't been pretty. Tony told himself that was the reason he did it, but also he'd seen where Steve was living and it might as well have been a prison cell. Blank white walls and everything was SHIELD issue, including his clothes. It was just sad, really. Tony designed reinforced punching bags with flexible titanium cores, and drew up a Things Steve Rogers Needs To Watch/Read/Listen To list, with Clint and Bruce's help.

         And slowly but surely everything and everyone returns to normal, and they become a tight-knit family, and everything is happy ever after.

        Or it would be, if this was a fairytale, and these were textbook heroes and not a group of adults damaged beyond any hope of normality, and ugly things like PTSD and alcohol and tempers didn't exist, and, and, and... you get the idea. But just because recovery isn't a straight line doesn't mean it doesn't happen, and slowly but surely they do get better. Just in a messier fashion than might be accepted by the rest of the world.


	2. Not As Brave As You Were At The Start

"Okay, who the hell ate all the bagels? Cap and Thor, I'm looking at you."  
"I have a high metabolism, _Stark_. And anyway, maybe if you'd actually gone food shopping this week like you were meant to, we'd have the damn bagels."  
"Did you just _swear_? He just swore! Captain America, the embodiment of pureness and chastity, just _swore_ at me!"  
Rogers stands up abruptly, face flushed, and stalks out of the kitchen. Stark shrugs, a _what's-his-deal_ expression on his face, and grabs a banana.  
"You know, if you didn't act like such a child, he'd be friendlier to you," Natasha observes. She knows it probably won't help, but she's just come back from a job in France and frankly feels too jet-lagged to deal with Stark's particular brand of bullshit.  
"I made a joke. A joke! About how he regularly eats the entire fridge, which he _does_ , and he gets all pissy! It's not my fault Capple Pie doesn't have a sense of humor."  
"Tony..." Natasha and Banner say in unison. Stark throws his hands up and leaves as well, muttering about how he should kick them all out. It won't happen. It's been three months, and for whatever reason they're all still here. Still here, but rarely together - the record for all six of them managing to be in the same room is twenty minutes, and that was during an episode of parks and recreation.  
"How'd it go?" Clint asks around a mouthful of Cheerios. "The Hartwell thing."  
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," Natasha deadpans. Clint grins. It's their traditional post-mission exchange. "No broken bones. None of mine, anyway," she adds. This elicits a laugh from Clint - the first real laugh she's heard from him in a while.  
"But seriously, Nat, did you get any intel out of him?"  
"Clint, you know you no longer have clearance for this mission." She frowns as the happiness slips off Clint's face. He'd taken being benched hard, harder than the others. "I'm sorry."  
She knows he's angry about being suspended from active duty, which includes having clearance revoked for the mission they'd been working on Before. Then again, his reaction to the information she unearthed on this latest foray would be even worse than his feelings on being benched. Because Clint of all people knows how dangerous Chitauri technology is. Yes, maybe it's for the best that Clint doesn't know.  
-  
_Things are improving,_ Steve tells himself over and over as he attacks the punching bag. And they are - for the most part. When they'd first all moved into the tower, it had seemed like life would run smoothly. Stark had set up their quarters so that there was one floor with everyone's private bedroom, bathroom and small living room suites, and the floor below with communal areas - kitchen, dining room, gym, huge living room, library, game room. Although Stark had hired a cleaning crew, they set up a chores roster with things like food shopping, meal planning and cooking, and keeping alive the house plants that had mysteriously appeared overnight. Steve suspects Banner.  
And they were six experienced adults, and it should all work, shouldn't it? They should be able to coexist peacefully and keep themselves fed, shouldn't they? But no; everyone keeps mostly to themselves, and when more than two of them are in a room together it inevitably ends in some kind of argument. Usually it's Stark's fault, although Steve knows the others, himself included, give as good as they get, when provoked. But Stark's just so good at pushing Steve's buttons, even when he doesn't seem to be trying. And having a chores roster is all very well and good, but then Stark gets absorbed in his workshop and forgets to buy food so someone else has to do it and invariably complains, or Barton disappears in the evening when it's his turn to make dinner and is found hours later in an air vent. Again, someone else cooks, but not without complaining. And the failure to fulfill responsibilities only adds to the antipathy between them. Steve thought at first that there would be camaraderie between them, like he'd had with the Howling Commandos, but instead there's silence and arguments and refusal to even talk about the battle. He's pretty sure it would be better to talk about it, just like he's pretty sure Barton shouldn't be dodging the SHIELD-mandated therapy, but he doesn't want to force either issue. And so he retreats to the gym instead, spending hours at a time on the punching bag, glad that he hasn't broken any yet.  
Thinking about it, Steve has to admit that things in the tower aren't improving, not really, no matter how much he tells himself otherwise. But it's not like he can make them get along, is it? He pauses mid-punch, an idea taking shape. It's unlikely the others will go along with it, but maybe he can pull it off.  
-  
_Team meeting. Kitchen. Now._  
Clint groans inwardly as he reads the text. He thinks he might prefer the days when Cap couldn't manage to turn on a cellphone. He takes one last look at the road below him, cars crawling by like ants, and then leaves the roof.  
"I sincerely hope aliens are invading again, because nothing less should have dragged me from my workshop at this moment," Stark announces as he enters the kitchen, last one there. His shirt is rumpled and there's a smudge of grease on his face. Cap rolls his eyes. "There's no emergency. I wanted to talk about the team." He looks deadly serious, and Clint wonders if the Avengers are being dissolved, or something equally momentous.  
"I'm instituting a team movie night." There's silence in the kitchen. "Tuesday nights. All of us in the main living room. We watch a movie together. Or a tv show, or play a video game, or _something_."  
Clint raises his hand. "I think I speak for all of us when I say, what the fuck?"  
Cap sighs, shifting from the Captain to just plain Steve. "Look, we've been here three months, and it seems like we'll be here for the foreseeable future, thanks to Stark's hospitality, and I just think it would be good if we could learn to get along. Like it or not, we're a team now." He holds his hands up, forestalling arguments as he continues. "I know, I know, everyone hates each other and no one wants to talk about the battle, and I'm not asking that we sit around braiding each other's hair-"  
"Shared grooming is a fine tradition among Aesir warriors."  
"-okay, you can braid each other's hair if you really want. Look, the point is I know maybe we'll never be friends, but can we at least act like adults and try and be civil and spend time in each other's company while we're under the same roof?"  
There's silence for a beat as everyone eyes each other. Finally Banner speaks up.  
"Tuesday night would be tonight, right?" He turns to Stark. "It would be a good opportunity for the introducing-Steve-to-twenty-first-century-media project."  
"True. JARVIS, order a shitload of microwave popcorn from that store down the street, you know, the little one that does the really good ice cream. Actually, put in an order for the ice cream as well."  
"Already done, sir."  
"Awesome." Stark claps his hands. "Okay, movie night once a week, should be doable. Anything else, Captain Spangles?"  
"That - that was all," Cap says, looking slightly surprised at the lack of objection. Clint suspects that, like him, the others secretly wish that they spent more time together.  
"For what it's worth, Cap, I don't hate everyone here," Clint says as the others file out. Cap gives him a wry smile. Clint continues, "And I don't know about the others, but for me the battle and everything was a pretty rough patch. We're all a little messed up from it. Just need time."  
"Yeah. Time." Steve nods, suddenly looking so very young. On impulse, Clint pats him on the shoulder before heading back to the roof.


	3. Live With Me Forever Now

After dinner they gather in the living room for movie night, armed with blankets and more popcorn that six people could reasonably be expected to eat - assuming two of those people weren't a god and a supersoldier. Bruce grabs a seat on the couch between Tony and Thor. Rogers sits down next to Tony, and Romanoff and Barton settle on the loveseat next to the couch.

"Okay." Tony consults the list he'd compiled of things to show Rogers. "How about Doctor Who?"

"I'm in," Romanoff says immediately, while he and Barton nod.

"Excellent. Let's start with the reboot." Tony selects 'play all' on the DVD and they settle down for a good old-fashioned marathon.

It's almost midnight and they're halfway through _the empty child_. Everyone is starting to fall asleep, leaning against each other's shoulders, and Bruce likes these brief relaxed moments of calm and companionship where the team feels ever so slightly like a family. But as usual, it doesn't last long. On-screen, Captain Jack kisses the Doctor and Rogers looks like he's just swallowed his own tongue.

"They can show that kind of stuff on TV?" he sounds horrified. Bruce winces.

"Yeah Cap, here in the 21st century the homophobia is a little less rampant than it used to be. Is that a problem?" Tony's voice is laced with ice.

"No! No, I - that kind of thing used to be _illegal_. That's changed? People - people like that, they're... okay now?" Tony's expression changes abruptly, and it clicks with Bruce a moment later. _Oh._

"Steve, remind me to add Stonewall to your list," and his voice is gentler. "And yeah. People like that are okay now."

Rogers' face is unreadable, but the look he's giving Tony seems almost calculating. "I-"

"Shh, people're tryna watch," Barton interrupts sleepily, and the moment's gone.

-

Thor frowns at the shopping list, and then back at the shelves. He has found most of the items, and after talking to a sales assistant who seemed somewhat alarmed by the list, has decided that Whole Foods is not the correct merchant for pure vodka, switchblades or incense. The last food item is ice cream, which he discovers is not on the shelves but rather in the freezer cabinets at the back of the store. Tony advised him to get Ben&Jerry's, but he has no idea which flavorings would be most popular. Eventually he settles on cookie dough, raspberry frozen yoghurt -something he remembers the Widow speaking highly of - and a flavor called Hazed and Confused that seems to contain a sufficiency of chocolate. The woman at the checkout gives him a searching look; he smiles politely. She doesn't seem to recognize him, for which he is grateful.

Returning to the tower, he finds Tony and the Captain in the kitchen, eating in silence - a granola bar and a sandwich, respectively.

"I have food," Thor announces.

The Captain looks up and smiles. "Great! Do you need a hand putting it away?"

"It would be much appreciated." Tony mutters something about boy scouts as they put the food away. He seems completely engrossed in his tablet. "Friend Tony, what is it that has captured your attention?" Thor enquires.

"Oh, just running tests on some stuff Tasha brought back - I'm monitoring them from..." he trails off, eyes widening. "Holy _fuck_."

"What is it?" the Captain asks, slamming the freezer shut.

"Nothing - well, probably nothing, hopefully nothing, might be something though, that would be bad, okay, I need to go." He bolts from the kitchen, heading for the stairs that lead to his workshop.

Thor and the the Captain exchange glances. "He is much like my brother," Thor muses.

"Loki?"

"Aye. He was - is - greatly interested in magic." Thor cannot help referring to his brother in the past tense, although Loki isn't dead - at least, not that Thor has been told of. Such news would not be a surprise, though, given the nature of Loki's punishment... the Captain is looking at him expectantly, and Thor drags his mind back to the present. "Loki would often set up experiments, try to invent spells, and when he was in the middle of such projects he would behave much like Tony - staying in his workroom for days at a time, muttering of odd things, running off at strange moments." He shakes his head. "Creativity and eccentricity seem to make good bedfellows."

"That's one way of putting it."

-

Tony skids into his workshop, going immediately to the shard of metal that's hooked up to a beeping machine. Tasha said she thought it was a fragment of a Chitauri weapon, but now Tony knows for sure.

"JARVIS, remind me to go bother Fury about this tomorrow," he says absently. If there's Chitauri weaponry showing up in Europe, Tony has a lot of questions for SHIELD. Like how much they know already, and whether they'll pull the Avengers out of suspension to go investigate and kick some more alien ass. Because the fact of the matter is, they're a team when the world needs saving. When they don't have a mission, they're just a bunch of fuckups who can't get along. Take the good Captain. One minute he's arguing with Tony, the next he's falling asleep on Tony's shoulder in front of the television. And Tony wants to hate him, wants to hate all of them, but he can't. Because though they all grate on each other's nerves, they're still a team. A currently useless, tenuously held together team, but a team nonetheless. And sometimes it feels like the team is all Tony has, and he knows he's not the only one who thinks like that. It's probably why he let them all move in with him, why he has JARVIS lock the air vents and roof access when Clint's in one of his moods, why he set up a corner of the gym as a meditation spot for Bruce, why he furnished Cap's room with electric blankets. He needs them, like it or not. And for all the bickering, he kind of likes it. On the days - okay, during the moments - when they're not wanting to kill each other, it feels a bit like family.

The monitor hooked up the shard of alien metal beeps again, and Tony looks at the display. Enlarges the hologram, turns it around a few times. Whistles softly. Because if this reconstruction is correct - and he has no doubt that it is - if that's what's hiding in Spain, or wherever Tasha was, then they're all going to have bigger worries than who ate the last bagel, very soon.


End file.
